Article carriers normally include an opening or other form of handle to enable the carrier to be readily lifted. The type of handle will necessarily vary depending on the type of carrier involved. The handle for a package of beverage cans, for example, will be different than a handle for a package of bottles.
Of particular difficulty is the problem of designing a suitable handle for certain types of fully enclosed carriers, such as a carrier designed to carry long-necked beer bottles. A typical carrier of this type has inwardly sloped end panels which generally follow the contour of the bottles, and tear-away portions extending from the side panels into the top panels to facilitate opening the package. In such an arrangement the common suitcase type of handle, consisting of spaced elongated openings in the top panel separated by a narrow strap by which a user lifts the carrier, is sometimes subject to tearing due to the inability of the top panel to resist the lifting stresses at the ends of the straps or the handle openings. Attempts have been made to improve the handle design by providing handle openings in the end panels, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,598. Although the arrangement disclosed in the patent provides for the lifting stresses to be directed primarily at the upper edge of the handle openings, which is more able to resist them than the suitcase type of handle, the handles are located in the lower or straight portion of the end panels. This makes for an awkward lifting process and does not provide much room for the fingers, since the wide portions of the end bottles are immediately adjacent the openings. Further, even though the handle is stronger in such an arrangement than the usual type of openings in the top panel, it is often not as strong as desired when relatively thin paperboard is used to form the carrier.
It has also been suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,207 to provide handle openings in the form of finger holes near the edge of the top panel. In that arrangement an extra fold of paperboard is utilized so as to provide double thickness in the area of the handle. This increases the strength somewhat and prevents the entry of light, which was a prime goal in the design of the handle, but the design still has the disadvantage of requiring the carrier to be lifted by the top panel. In addition, the finger holes are located adjacent the edge of the top panel, thereby increasing the danger of tearing.
A stronger handle is needed for carriers of this type which are not located in the top panel and which do not have the disadvantages of the side handles in the prior art design discussed above.